


Last Shore Leave (Interlude II)

by Bella_Monoxide



Series: Cruisin' [7]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, Daddy Kink, Daryl is Gareth's daddy, Gareth has a well hidden daddy kink, M/M, Masturbation, RPF (one character only), Serious Talks, Slight D/s Dynamics, Spit As Lube
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-16
Updated: 2016-07-02
Packaged: 2018-06-08 10:14:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6850693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bella_Monoxide/pseuds/Bella_Monoxide
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daryl is on his last shore leave before taking over the garage from Dale and meets with Rick to try and help Shane out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pharmtechgirl71](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pharmtechgirl71/gifts), [KrissyG927](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KrissyG927/gifts).



> Dedicated to my girls - you will know why.

 

First up on Daryl's list of things to do on his last shore leave was a conversation with Dale, owner of the garage Merle worked at. Daryl himself had been working there as well, just not as consistently as his older brother. Merle and Daryl talked to Dale over breakfast at a diner in town, trying to get all the details straight and make an appointment with Dale's lawyer to officialize the business transfer.

Dale was pleased about the fact that the Dixon brothers would continue his business when he retired. He liked Daryl a lot, had often acted as a father figure* towards the brothers. He even helped Merle out of some legal trouble, for which the older Dixon was most grateful.

They talked for a while, and were able to come up with a solid strategy as to how to turn the business over to the Dixon brothers with as little hassle as possible, and it seemed like they agreed on all the most important things. Daryl and Merle grew to feel even more comfortable during their discussions than they had before the meeting – but then it turned out that Dale had a few concerns on his own...

"Daryl, we've known each other for quite some time now," Dale started, and Daryl looked at him, a glimmer of unease in his eyes. Dale, picking up on that right away, held up his hands in a soothing manner. "No need to worry, son. But I was wondering – Merle dropped something the other day about a special guy in your life. Is that true?"

Daryl blushed. "Yeah," he confirmed, "there is a guy in my life. But," here, his face fell visibly, "I dunno if it will ever pan out to be something substantial."

Dale, noticing the change in Daryl's mood, reached over the table to gently squeeze his hand for a moment. "I think you'll be just fine, Daryl." Dale leaned back and signaled to the waitress for their check, then added "Just watch out for yourself, you know. Be careful." When Daryl looked confused, he elaborated some more. "What I mean is, Merle said that this guy, Gareth was his name, that right?"

Daryl nodded almost invisibly, and Dale smiled. "Right. So, Gareth will keep on working on cruise ships, while you stay 'on shore', as they say. Just make sure you're both okay with that." A thoughtful expression appeared on Daryl's face. "Thanks Dale, I will." When Daryl looked at Dale in a grateful manner, the older man patted his hand before he continued.

"So what are you planning to do when the bartending-fever hits you next time?"

Daryl looked caught, while Merle's expression was rather worried, as if that possibility had not occured to the older Dixon yet, but he thought it as likely to happen as Dale did, now that it was mentioned. He waited for Daryl's answer, when Dale elaborated. "Dare," he murmured while shaking his head, "I know you by now – and I'm pretty sure you know yourself well enough to see my reasoning. Trust me, it's better to come up with a plan before that happens."

Daryl, who had cast his eyes down during Dale's explanation, looked back up now, with his expression changed to thoughtful. "What are you thinking about, Dale?" He asked, and the older man's face broke into his typical smile, the wrinkles around his kind brown eyes crinkling.

"Well." Here, he paused for effect, his smile widening before he continued. "You do realise that you'll be the boss of the garage, right? Which means that you could always re-arrange your own schedule to your liking, or hire additional help..."

Dale laughed at the dumbfounded faces both Dixons displayed, indicating that this thought had never occured to them up until then. Daryl and Merle joined in on Dale's laughter after a couple of seconds, and they parted in a good mood, all three of them feeling positive about the upcoming changes in the management of the garage.

On their way home, Merle asked Daryl about his further plans for the day, and he sighed with relief when he heard about his younger brother's dinner date with Rick.

"You talked to Shane as well, baby brother?" Merle inquired, his brow knitted again, and Daryl rolled his eyes.

"Yep, Merle, don't worry." He sighed as well, but more from a feeling of irritation. "Geez. I arranged for Shane to join us later, ok?"

His older brother was not impressed. "Does Rick know about that?" He asked, casting a glance over at Daryl, who looked away then, trying to cover his move by pretending to enjoy the view – a maneuvre his older brother saw through right away, and he called him out on it.

"So he does not." Merle cackled his infamous laugh, then continued "Well, little brother, I don't envy you that meeting, that is for darn sure."

Daryl, an incredulous look on his face now, said "May I remind you that it was you who begged me, practically on your knees, to talk to them and sort it out? And now you're being like this?" He shook his head. "Tell you what, Merle. If it's so important to you, why don't you go in my stead and..."

At that point, Daryl caught the absolutely horrified expression on his brother's face, and he broke out into fits of laughter, until Merle punched him in the shoulder none too gently.

"Not funny, Dare, so not funny," he stated, shaking himself visibly at the thought of having to go through such a meeting himself. Merle Dixon might have been a lot of things, but he was aware of his inabilities and he knew for sure that he was not cut out for things as mediating between Rick and Shane – especially since they were both guys.

* * *

Daryl had arranged to meet Rick at a restaurant for dinner. But when the handsome looking guy with the piercing blue gaze sat across from him, Daryl forgot all about his plans to direct the conversation towards Rick's co-worker and friend. Instead, he listened while the cop talked about his impending divorce and all that came with it.

At some point though, Rick visibly made a conscious effort to change the topic. Unfortunately for Daryl, who was hanging on Rick's every word as it were already, he choose to talk about their time on the cruise and how they had tricked Rick's soon to be ex-wife. Daryl laughed as he thought back to how they had sneaked behind her back to enjoy each other's company.

When he sobered up, Daryl finally thought about Rick's co-worker again. Looking at the time, he saw that Shane was bound to walk into the restaurant soon, and Daryl had not even gotten around to tell Rick about their surprise guest yet. Deciding to best be hurrying up, he asked a question. "Talking about how you broadened your horizons, Rick – did you give some thought to going out and enjoy that some more..?" He winked at the cop, and Rick caught his meaning.

Smiling a bit sheepishly, he brushed a hand through his curls, a gesture that Daryl found way too endearing for his own liking, and he had a hard time to pay attention to what Rick said next. "You know, Daryl, about that." Here, he cleared his throat before he continued. "Don't get me wrong, I'd love to go out sometime and explore that side of my personality more, but right now, I just want to get through the divorce as quickly as possible."

He laughed nervously. "I mean, I got a lot to work through, what with Lori throwing a fit every chance she gets, while I try to keep my relationship with Carl up. Poor little guy, he can't understand how his parents..." Here, Rick abruptly stopped, casting his eyes down as if there was something very interesting on the tablecloth.

He only looked back up and straight into Daryl's eyes when he felt the bartender's hand stroking his own in a soothing manner. "I get it, Rick." They stared at each other across the table for the longest moment, and when Daryl tried to pull his hand back, Rick held on for just a few seconds more.

Blushing, Daryl did not know where to look, but rolled his eyes when he heard Rick chuckle. "Yeah," Daryl mumbled under his breath, "I know. So cute when I blush, yada yada..." He got up to go to the restrooms, and if Rick saw through his attempt at getting his composure back, he was polite enough not mention anything.

After a few minutes Daryl was back, and while he still racked his brain to come up with a way to weave Shane into the conversation again, Rick brought his co-worker up himself – only in a way that Daryl would have liked to avoid altogether. "So how did you and Shane get to know each other on the cruise he took? I mean, you two haven't met before, did I get that right?"

While Rick looked merely curious, Daryl, searching for words to explain, turned a rather unhealthy shade of red. In the end, he did not have to say anything yet again, as Rick arrived at the correct conclusion all by his handsome self. He blanched and whispered "No way..!" While he still tried to wrap his head around this new piece of information, Daryl managed a nod.  
"I don't think it is my place to tell you, but yes, Shane and I got to know each other, as they say, in the biblical sense as well." He added, making a mental note to pull Shane aside and tell him that Rick knew as soon as he arrived.

Quite a few minutes passed before Rick started back talking. "Good lord," he said quietly, "I never would have thought that about him. And here I was, assuming that I knew him better than anyone else." He shook his head, looking at Daryl questioningly. "Why would he..?"

But here, Daryl cut right in. "Keep that from you?" He sighed audibly. "Rick. There are a thousand reasons not to tell even your best friend that you are, well, interested in more than the opposite sex."  
Nodding, Rick answered "I know, I know. It's just, I am so surprised, I guess." His gaze drifted towards a point located somewhere behind Daryl, without really seeing anything.

Trying to shake Rick out of his reverie after a while, Daryl suggested for him to go out with Shane sometime, hinting at giving it a try, to see what might happen, without explicitly saying so. But Rick just laughed. "Daryl. Even though I only recently discovered that I never lost my interest in guys, that doesn't mean that I will suddenly see my best friend as a potential love interest!" While Rick still chuckled, Daryl tried to hold on to his composure, signaling for their check as a clever distraction.

When they had paid and the waitress had left again, Daryl asked casually "So you think that a serious relationship is out of the question for you, at least since the divorce is through, then?"

Rick grinned mischiviously. "Why, are you interested..?" He wiggled his eyebrows, and Daryl laughed. Sobering up, Rick, while looking deep into Daryl's eyes, added "You know, I would love to get together with you again sometime."

Daryl, unable to find the strength to break the spell between them, stared right back into Rick's blue eyes, feeling mesmerised. They only broke apart when Rick's pocket began to vibrate, causing the cop to curse under his breath. He excused himself for taking the call, mouthing "It's Lori!" at Daryl, then talked to her for a few minutes, trying really hard to keep his voice down, which left Daryl with some time on his hands. Toying around with a leftover napkin, he let his eyes roam through the restaurant.

They came to an instant halt when they crossed path with another pair, this one of a warm brown colour. Shane had entered the restaurant, searching for Daryl and Rick's table, and now he made to walk over. Daryl did not know what to do, and it seemed to show on his face, as Shane stopped in his approach, his expression turing to confused.

Shaking his head ever so slightly, Daryl tried to communicate for him to best not come over, when he realised that somehow, the gist of his talk with Rick must have shown on his face, as Shane abruptly turned around to leave the restaurant, just as Rick ended his call.

He made to apologise again for leaving his phone on, but Daryl told him not to worry about it. "Let's just leave, shall we?" He asked, and Rick got up, leading the way out, not noticing how Daryl whipped out his own phone to send off a text to Shane, pleading with him not to leave the parking lot just yet.

His goodbye to Rick was short, and he would have denied how much he enjoyed the parting hug to his dying day, but still could not help the relieved sigh as soon as he saw the taillights of Rick's car disappear.

Turning on his heel, Daryl searched the lot for Shane, and sure enough, he found the dark haired cop leaning against his flashy jeep, arms crossed over his chest. Daryl almost ran over, making to wrap the cop into a tight hug, when he noticed Shane's forbidding expression.

"Well," he stated in an icy voice, "didn't you two look cosy together." Shane shook his head, a pretend look of annoyance on his face. "And here I was, thinking you had this planned to try and find out if Rick might be..." Here, his voice left him, and he had to clear his throat.

In an attempt to distract Daryl from the way his voice almost broke at the end, he continued in a cutting tone, aiming to hurt the bartender. "So, did you enjoy your little display of affection? 'S that the reason why you sent me a text, asking me not to leave, so I wouldn't miss the show?"

By then, Daryl's eyes had gotten wide, and he used the opportunity to finally explain his actions. "I can understand that you are lashing out at me, but we both know that it's not going to change anything, so cut it out, a'ight?" He shook his head before he continued. "Geez, Shane. You know I had something going on with Rick on the cruise, ok?" Daryl almost rolled his eyes, trying hard not to turn sarcastic on Shane. But when he tried to step closer, Shane balked. The dark haired cop turned around and made for the door on the driver's side of his car, his intention crystal clear.

Daryl, on the other hand, was not willing to let Shane get away without listening to reason, let alone drive in such a state. Besides that though, Shane's behaviour brought out the Dixon in him, and so it happened that Shane found himself trapped between his own car and a fuming Daryl, who spat in his face.

"Let me make myself very clear, here, ok? Yes, I do like Rick a lot. And yes, he – he, not I, Shane! – suggested for us to get together again sometime. But," here, he grabbed Shane by the shoulders, "I hurried him out of there and got rid of him as soon as I could, so we could talk, you and I, a'ight? Geez!"

Abruptly, Daryl let go of Shane, already feeling ashamed that he had let himself go like that. Lost in his own head for a minute, Daryl did not notice how Shane's shoulders slumped as the tension left his body. The cop hung his head, no longer able to hold his sadness in, and a moan escaped his throat.

Daryl seized the opportunity to finally wrap him up in a tight hug, as he whispered into his ear. "I'm sorry, Shane. Didn't mean to yell at you like that, I lost it for a minute..." He let out a relieved sigh when Shane just hugged him back, burying his face in the juncture between Daryl's neck and shoulder.

They stood like that for a long time, and when Daryl felt like the cop regained his composure somewhat, he murmured "How about we take my truck and drive to a bar for some drinks?"

Shane, a sad expression on his face, nodded as he whispered back "You might as well tell me everything."

Daryl wrapped his arm around Shane's shoulders and led him over to his truck, but he could not help the deep sigh escaping his throat at the idea of relating his talk with Rick to Shane.

 


	2. Spending the Night with a Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl tries to gently get the message over to Shane.

During their drive to a local gay bar, Daryl and Shane did not talk after they had decided where to head over for drinks. Shane looked out of the window for the most part, while Daryl wracked his brain for an appropriate way of letting Shane know the gist of his talk with Rick, preferably without getting shot for being the deliverer of bad news. He felt down, especially since he could not shake the feeling that Shane had a hard time holding tears back as they rolled through the night.

Daryl parked the car and killed the engine when they arrived at their destination. They headed into the bar and grabbed one of the more secluded tables. When the waitress popped up at their table, Daryl was in for a pleasant surprise. "Tara!" He cried, getting up to hug her after the obligatory fist bump had been exchanged.

"I didn't know you work here." Daryl added, and Tara explained that she needed the job to pay for her education. Apparently, her girlfriend Alicia had paid for the cruise on which they met Daryl, but Tara was determined to earn a living on her own while she was attending college.

When Daryl introduced Shane as Rick's co-worker to her, she asked them how Rick was and Daryl gave her the Cliff's Notes version of what Rick had told him at dinner. He and Shane placed their orders, and Daryl insisted that Shane should get something to eat as well, as he suspected that the cop might be planning on getting drunk.

Since Shane already knew about Rick's divorce procedure and his plans to move out of the family home as soon as he found an apartment, he asked Daryl what else they had talked about. Looking quite unhappy, Daryl began to explain after they had gotten their first round of drinks. But apparently, he did not answer Shane's question directly enough, cause the dark-haired cop soon lost his patience.

"Daryl, quit beatin' around the bush! Geeez. Just tell me, a'ight? Why did you look that way when you saw me entering the restaurant?" He inquired, and Daryl tried to gather his nerve.

"Well, first off, he still didn't know anything about your orientation." He began, looking over at Shane inquiringly. When he did not react, Daryl continued. "Come on, Shane! He knows we met on the cruise! You did not tell him anything?! Why, in god's name?" The bartender shook his head in disbelief. "Besides," he added grumpily, "that way, I did out you without knowing it. Dammit."

Shane's food arrived, and Daryl used the time to catch his breath and calm down somewhat, before he continued. "I guess what it all boils down to is that Rick only sees you as his best friend. Besides that, he can't see himself having a steady relationship anytime soon."

Faced with Shane's utterly sad expression, Daryl cautiously sqeezed the other guy's hand and whispered "I'm so sorry, Shane. I really hoped..." He shook his head and averted his eyes.

"I know, Daryl." Shane said quietly. "It's probably better this way, you know, finally knowing that I don't stand a chance, right? But it just feels so..." Here, he had to stop talking for a minute, trying to keep his countenance, but it was obvious that he had a hard time pulling that off.

Daryl sipped his beer quietly, giving Shane time to try and get some composure back.

After a while, Shane broke the silence with a gasp. When Daryl looked at him, the dark-haired cop blurted out "Oh my gawd, Daryl! How am I supposed to work with the guy?!" He groaned loudly, his face dropping into his hands. "I spend half a work day sitting in a car with Rick!"

Daryl chimed in. "Yep, I remember. You spend quite a portion of that time listening to his relationship trouble."

"Yeah," Shane confirmed, looking back up. "and now it has switched to divorce trouble!"

"Same difference," Daryl rumbled, and Shane nodded.

"Well," he asked, "what am I supposed to do? Tell you what, Daryl, I..."

Daryl, intrigued by Shane's sudden stop, looked at him questioningly. "Come on, Shane," he coaxed, "you know that you can tell me anything, right."

Shane nodded, but it still took him a couple of minutes to gather himself before he continued. "I thought about leavin'..." He whispered, and Daryl nodded in understanding.

"You mean, get a job somewhere else, move to another town. Something like that?"

"Yeah," Shane answered, and Daryl continued "You already know where to?"

But here, Shane shook his head. "Not sure yet. I thought Atlanta, but that might be too big for a small town boy like myself."

"I imagine work in Atlanta would be a lot different from what you're used to, huh?" Daryl asked. "Maybe you could live in Atlanta, but work in a smaller town nearby?"

They talked about Shane's options for some time, and Daryl suggested for Shane to talk to his boss as soon as possible, so he could request a different partner until he decided if and where he would move. Shane asked Daryl to keep his plan to himself, and Daryl nodded, indicating that he would not have blabbed to anyone. The sliver of annoyance was there and gone again fast as lightning, but it did not escape Shane's notice.

"I'm sorry, Daryl. I didn't mean to suggest otherwise, it's just, you know..."

Appeased, the bartender gave back "It's fine, Shane. I get it."

They ordered another round, and since a change of subjects seemed to be advised, Shane asked Daryl how far his plans to get his own business had progressed, and they talked that over. But at some point – and several drinks later, Daryl had switched over to sodas after his beer – Shane asked about Gareth. "He'll be on your last cruise, right?" Shane recalled, and Daryl answered "Yeah."

"So," Shane continued, wiggling his eyebrows, "I guess there will be some serious screwing around going on then..?"

Daryl laughed, cause Shane was not able to control his facial expressions too well anymore at that point. "You're cute when you're drunk, Shane," he smiled, squeezing Shane's hand again. The cop intertwined their fingers, holding on to Daryl's hand, who let him get away with it for the time being. "I dunno, Shane," he answered thoughtfully. "We'll have a lot to figure out, Gareth and I."

Shane asked him if he felt bad about the fact that it was his last cruise, as he knew that Daryl did enjoy the work a lot, but the bartender shook his head. "Not really, no." He told Shane about Dale's suggestions for times when the 'bartending-fever' hit him again, and Shane laughed, but sobered up quickly, as Daryl had just remembered something else Dale had mentioned.

"You know, Shane – Dale brought up something else, and I wonder how that will work out. While I will work at the garage, Gareth will continue to work on those cruise ships..."

Shane cut in, asking if Daryl was concerned about their time spent apart from each other, or potential lovers the hairdresser might have. Daryl looked amused, but more at himself than at what Shane had brought up. "I never though I would end up in a serious relationship, but here I am, wondering if I will be able to live in one that only takes place on my partner's days on shore leave..."

"Maybe, since you're not the relationship kinda guy, this concept might actually work for you, don't you think?" Shane suggested, but Daryl shook his head. "I dunno, Shane. I guess I'll just have to wait and see."

After that, their conversation changed over to lighter topics, while Shane got even more drunk, and soon enough Daryl thought it best if he drove the cop home. Convincing Shane of that was another matter altogether, but eventually, Daryl had him back in his truck and was soon en route to his apartment.

If Daryl had thought that getting Shane to leave the bar was hard, he saw himself faced with an even trickier situation as they arrived in the parking lot belonging to the apartment building where Shane lived, as the cop had fallen asleep during the drive. First, Daryl could hardly wake him up, then, after trying to guide him up the stairs and into the apartment, the cute cop started to sob on Daryl's shoulder, pleading with him not to leave just yet.

In the end, Daryl led him towards the sofa and gently tried to pry himself away – only to find Shane holding on even tighter. He only caught himself in time to swallow the sigh that threatened to tear out of his throat when Shane whispered pleadingly "Don't go, Daryl. Don't leave me alone."

A bit surprised, since such a thing would never have occured to Daryl before he started working on those cruises, he found himself unable to refuse, as he realised that he cared a lot for Shane. Shaking his head over that revelation, and thinking that for once, he had made an actual friend, Daryl murmured back.

"Ok, Shane, I'll stay. At least for a while." When the cop began to protest anew, Daryl continued "Shhh, it's alright. Lemme get you a drink, ok?"

As Shane nodded, Daryl grabbed a blanket from the nearby armchair and wrapped the drunk cop in it, then went to find the kitchen. He returned with a couple of sodas, handed one over to Shane and made to sit down in the armchair – which did not sit too well with the tenant of the apartment.

"Come on, Daryl." Shane whined. "There is enough space over here, right?" He even gave Daryl his puppy dog eyes, and the bartender could not find it in himself to refuse that request, even though he did sigh audibly this time.

As soon as he had sat down next to Shane, the cop wrapped the blanket around Daryl's shoulders as well – with a little help from Daryl, since his own coordination was a tad off, which made Daryl chuckle. Of course, that earned him a none too gentle shove into the ribs, and they carried one like that for a while, teasing each other, but eventually, Shane snuggled up into Daryl's side, one of Daryl's arms wrapped around his shoulders under the blanket.

Soon afterwards, Shane fell asleep again. Daryl finished off his soda, then tried to untangle himself in order to finally leave, but it did not work. Shane, who had only woken up to some degree, did have a hard time to figure out who he was leaning against, confusing Daryl with Rick first, then some guy named Chuck next.

Shaking his head, Daryl dug out his phone and sent off a text to his brother, to let him know that he would be back home in the morning, then made Shane use the bathroom while he got the cop's bed ready, so Shane only had to lay down. Daryl helped him with his clothes, then used the bathroom as well. Back in the bedroom, he toed off his boots, slipped out of both jacket and jeans, got under the covers and wrapped Shane up in his arms.

The cop, almost asleep again by then, asked him for a kiss in such a pitiful voice, that Daryl caved yet again, but he kept it short and mostly on the 'just friends' side. Minutes later, Shane began to snore softly, and Daryl rolled his eyes before he drifted off to sleep himself, his brother's gravelly voice filling his head with 'Well, Darylina, you done gone soft now, huh?', followed by his infamous cackle.

 


	3. Of Solutions and Dilutions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl and Shane get support in their search for possible solutions to the cop's predicament from an unusual source.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part of this chapter was written with my friend pharmtechgirl71 on my mind. Hope you enjoy.

Daryl had woken up twice during the night. First he helped Shane to the bathroom, where the cop prayed to the toilet god for a while, which caused Daryl to think about karma during the ordeal since the incident reminded him of another shore leave with a similar situation – only the roles had been reversed then.

The second time he woke up happened during the early hours of morning, and he considered leaving Shane's apartment while he used the bathroom, but decided against it when he re-entered the bedroom to grab his clothes and saw himself faced with the view of the dark-haired cop, tangled between the sheets, said hair all messed up and a tiny smile on his face as if he was dreaming.

As Daryl slipped back between the sheets, gently shoving Shane a bit so he would fit into the bed as well, he thought to himself that the Merle in his head had it all figured out – he was going soft. Grinning, he found that he just did not care, then fell back asleep.

Both Shane and Daryl only woke up completely around ten, and while Shane went to use the bathroom, Daryl called his brother.

"Morning, Merle," he said in greeting, and his brother answered with a gruff "Mornin'". But when Daryl opened his mouth to continue, Merle went on "So, baby brother – you going soft on me now? Or did you have to comfort that cop some, huh..?"

Listening to Merle's cackle on the other end of the line, thinking that his brother most likely wiggled his eyebrows along with that last statement, Daryl wore a baffled expression on his still somewhat sleep wrinkled face, when Shane popped his head in the door.

"Oh, you're on the phone?" He asked, and after Daryl had managed to mouth 'Merle', Shane continued. "I was thinking, maybe we could go out for breakfast?" He looked embarrassed. "I got nothing in my fridge, I'm afraid."

"Merle," Daryl asked into the phone, "Shane and I are about to go for breakfast. Care to join us?" Of course, he had to hold the phone away from his ear, so Merle's loud laughter would not do any permanent damage to his hearing abilities, as Daryl rolled his eyes. Shane grinned and shook his head over that display of brotherly love, then suggested for them to go to the local shooting range afterwards.

Daryl and Shane each took a quick shower, then headed out together in Daryl's truck. During the drive, the bartender shook his head and told Shane about his short talk with Merle, to explain why he looked so surprised when he talked to him on the phone. "It's just weird, you know?" Daryl looked almost spooked. "Sometime last night, I thought about what Merle would say to my staying overnight as your moral support – only to hear him say it for real the next day!"

Shane laughed. "That's just funny. But you know," he added, now with a thoughtful expression, "maybe it only shows how well you know each other, huh?"

Daryl nodded and changed the subject. "Why did you suggest to go to the shooting range? Blow off some steam?"

"Yeah, something like that. Plus, I don't wanna be alone..." Shane drifted off, looking out of the window without really seeing anything.

"Hey," Daryl called out after a while, "did you ring your boss already? Might be a good idea to get that over with as soon as possible, don't ya think?"

Smacking his forehead, Shane got out his phone and hit the buttons, as Daryl parked the truck at the diner they would meet Merle at for breakfast. Since his brother was already there, he handed the keys over to Shane and left the vehicle, so the cop could talk more privately.

Soon afterwards, Shane joined the brothers at a table in the diner, and after greetings had been exchanged, they ordered and got to talking. Daryl asked Shane if he had cleared things up with his boss, and he told them that he had been able to twist the sheriff's arm, though it had been difficult, since Shane had tried to keep his reasons to himself.

"So," Merle asked, "I get that correctly? You wanna new partner, so you don't have to sit in a car with Rick all day?"

Shane nodded, looking sad, and Daryl squeezed his hand. "I'm glad it worked out, Shane."

Their food arrived, and the three men dug in hungrily, too busy to talk for a while. But when their breakfast had been mostly devoured, Merle looked thoughtful as he asked Shane if he had given any thought to how Rick might react when he found out about Shane's request.

Daryl had to scoot closer to Shane and put a comforting arm around his shoulders, as it turned out that he indeed had not thought about that yet. Thinking it best to clue his brother in, Daryl asked Shane if it was ok to tell Merle about his other plans, and the cop nodded. Merle listened, and for once, did not immediately start to talk as soon as his brother ended his explanations.

Instead, he gave their waitress a sign to bring the check, then suggested for them to drive to the shooting range in his car, since the range was closer to Atlanta, and Shane's jeep was still at the bar. They all piled into Merle's trusted truck and soon were on their way.

* * *

Daryl thought his brother's behaviour a bit dodgy, and saw his suspicions confirmed when he got back from using the restrooms, sitting down at the bar that belonged to the shooting range. Merle and Shane had put their heads together, but stopped talking when Daryl got back.

"Ok," the younger Dixon brother murmured, just loud enough for them to hear, "you two better start talking now."

Shane smiled nervously, but Merle kept his cool. "No need to worry, little brother." He clapped Daryl's shoulder with his big hand, but Daryl did not feel like letting this slide. He shrugged Merle off, looking at his brother expectantly.

Merle sighed overly exhasperated, idicating that Daryl's reaction was totally unfounded, and murmured for him to not get his panties in a bunch. In the end, the older Dixon explained that he and Shane had been talking the cop's predicament over, since Merle had thought about his own connections.

When Daryl looked downright scared, hearing the word, Merle shook his head. "Daryl. Don't you think you are being a little unfair here?" He leaned back, crossed his arms over his chest, and patiently waited for Daryl to catch up.

"Imma sorry, Merle," the younger Dixon mumbled after a while, "I guess I'm just scared, you know? Don't wanna loose you to your old ways..."

Shane observed with wonder as Daryl hung his head, a sad expression on his face, while Merle's own face showed a softness that the cop would not have though possible.

"It's ok, little brother," Merle whispered, hugging Daryl to his chest, ruffling his hair, "I was talking about my buddy Axel, remember him?" When Daryl started to protest, Merle hushed him quickly. "I know him from the joint, but he is a good guy, you know that! Anyways," he continued, "his friend works in security, and they are always on the lookout for new personnel. I thought that might be something for Shane to consider, don't you agree?"

"You mean, just in case he can't transfer as quickly as he would like?" Daryl picked up Merle's train of thought, and his brother nodded, a fond smile on his features. "Glad you finally caught up, baby brother," he said, thumping Daryl's back before he turned back around to continue his talk with Shane.

They left soon afterwards, drove Shane to his car and parted ways there, since the cop wanted to use the opportunity and look into the housing situation of the big city.

* * *

When they arrived back in their hometown, Merle went to a friend's house to help him out with a particularly stubborn bike, while Daryl drove home for some much needed alone time. He watched TV for a while, but fell asleep soon, and only woke back up when it was already dark outside. Since he and Merle had agreed to go out for some drinks and a game of pool together, Daryl got up to take a shower and get ready to head back out.

He had planned on a quick wash, but as he undressed while the water heated up, he thought about the text he had received from a certain hairdresser, who would soon be on shore leave as well. Gareth had suggested for them to finally meet each other again before they went on that next cruise together, and Daryl could hardly wait.

Stepping into the shower stall, he took his time and let the warm water rain down on his body for a while before he started with washing his hair. That made him realise how long it had grown in the meantime, and he made a mental note to ask Gareth if he could give it a trim before the cruise. Daryl could by no means be accused of being vain, but he knew what was expected of him jobwise.

For the bartending position, his hair had definitively grown too long. When he grabbed for the shower gel to wash his body, he smiled as he remembered how Gareth had mentioned – well, groaned, more like – during one of their many fumbles between the sheets how he loved the slightly wild look Daryl had about him.

Once Daryl's brain had gotten on the subject, it was no use for him to try and think about something else in order to distract himself, and, thinking about the way Gareth had worshipped his body, his hands slowed down to a much slower pace. Daryl began to moan under his breath when he tweaked one of his nipples, his other hand already on it's way to regions more south, and soon enough, he fondled his balls tenderly.

His moans became more frequent and a tad louder as his cock hardened. He worked on his nipples some more, tweaking them harder, all the while imagining Gareth doing it in his stead, then, as a particularly strong sensation shot straight to his cock, he let go and grabbed his rock-hard length instead, giving it a few harsh strokes, his hips pushing forward.

While he moved his hand to tend to the bulging head, he thought about how good the hairdresser's mouth had felt on his cock, and his other hand continued to tend to his heavy balls. Even though his last sex on the cruise had not been that long ago, he felt his climax fast approaching. Daryl decided to leave one hand on his cock while the other slid between his ass cheeks to rub over his entrance.

His head fell back, a loud moan escaping his throat, and Daryl had to lean against the tiles to steady himself, when one of his fingers breached his hole, probing carefully, enhancing his feelings. Jacking his cock in earnest now, Daryl groaned in ecstasy, while the pre-cum ran off the tip of his cock in a steady stream, diluted by the water cascading down from the shower head.

One finger still in his ass, the others rubbing over the tender flesh between his hole and his balls, Daryl soon tipped over the edge from all the sensations, and he cried Gareth's name towards the ceiling as his cock erupted in strings of hot cum, painting the tiles while Daryl imagined the hairdresser swallowing it all down his eager throat.

 


	4. A Night on the Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl goes out with Merle, before he drives over to ATL for a drink in his favorite gay bar. Well. Of course he meets some interesting people there, and he will not drive home alone...

On their way to their usual bar, the Dixon brothers talked about Rick and Shane for a while, wondering how their respective futures would pan out. But since they had heard nothing new from either cop, they soon talked about other stuff, until they arrived and went inside to meet their mutual friends and aquaintances.

During the course of the evening, they had a lot of fun, both with their friends and each other, but there happened to be some serious business talk as well. Jim, a fellow mechanic who currently worked in a factory that was in danger to be closed soon, asked them if they would consider taking him on, and Daryl gladly accepted, knowing that Jim did good work.

Their party got joined by Axel, Merle's buddy, at some point. He had no license in mechanics, but had got the hang of it, so Daryl and Merle considered to hire him as well, especially in light of the latest development where Shane was concerned.

Sometime later, Daryl got up to leave for a drink at a club in Atlanta, leaving his brother at the bar. When he left, he told Merle that he would see him again the next day, which of course prompted the older Dixon to speculate about how – and where – Daryl's night might end. Shaking his head with a smile over his older brother's antics, Daryl left and went outside to hop into his truck, when he had an idea.

As soon as he had gotten behind the wheel, he whipped his phone out to make a call – only to see that the person he wanted to reach had texted him in the meantime. Wondering about life's coincidences, Daryl read the message, then continued to place his call.

"Zach?" He said into the device. "I just got your message. How is your sister, and how are you?"

His former co-worker, thrilled to hear from Daryl, told him all about the procedure he and his sister had gotten under – and the outcome so far. Daryl expressed how glad he was to hear that everything went as well as could be expected, and that Zach himself was feeling good, before he told him why he had thought of contacting him.

"You will go to college soon, right? Going for automobile?" He asked, and when Zach confirmed that, Daryl continued. "I thought that you might want to consider doing an internship here, at the garage, for your practical training. What do you say?"

His last question got drowned in Zach's happy laughter, and Daryl grinned over his younger friend's inanities. They talked it over for some time, then hung up after they agreed on talking again when Daryl was back home after his last cruise, for which Zach wished him luck.

Cursing under his breath, Daryl thought about his insight as he drove towards his next destination. Zach's last remark had made him realise that he would spend his last cruise training a new co-worker, and Daryl was not amused.

***

He soon forgot all about his dark thoughts when he got into the club, as the first person he met was a welcome sight for sore eyes.

"Michonne!" He cried, spreading his arms wide, and the tall woman stepped into his embrace with a huge grin on her face. They hugged each other for a longer time than customary for mere acquaintances, but they both were out of fucks to give about such qualms.

Daryl even kept one arm around Michonne's waist as they walked further into the club on their way to the bar, where Andrea was ordering new drinks both for herself and her partner.

"Ah," she said, smiling at them, "you ran into our favorite, um, bartender, I see." Daryl went on to hug her lightly as well, only then realising that Abraham was sitting at the bar, next to his wife, Sara, who both greeted him as well.

Daryl ordered a drink for himself, then they all went to find a booth to talk – only to be stopped by Abraham. "Wait, Duke's not back yet," he told them, and before Daryl could ask any questions, said guy turned up to Abraham's right, saying "I'm here now, where are y'all going?"

Daryl found himself speechless, as Abraham's friend and brother in arms looked even better in person than in the photograph the sergeant had shown him on the cruise they all met on. Oblivious to Daryl's state, Abe introduced his friend to Daryl, and they exchanged a few pleasantries before they all continued to walk over and grab a table together.

During the evening, Michonne leaned over and whispered into Daryl's ear. "You know, I really had hoped to take this elsewhere later on, but it seems to me that you are quite taken with Abe's friend, huh..?" She winked ever so slightly at him, and Daryl blushed.

"Am I that obvious?" He asked, casting his eyes down in embarrassment.

Michonne smiled. "No, but I got to know you a little, remember..?" They exchanged some knowing smiles, both thinking back to their hot encounters, before they jumped back into the conversation so the others would not notice their little talk on the side and begin to ask questions as to what they had been talking about.

A while later, Daryl went to take a leak. On his way back to their table, he accidentally ran into a handsome looking fellow, and while he was still apologising, he realised that it was no other than Sean.

"Wait," he blurted without thinking, "aren't you the guy who..?"

"Yep, I had a one nighter with Gareth the other day," Sean confirmed. Since he did not appear to be at all fazed about that fact, Daryl got angry.

"You know that's my guy, right?" He asked Sean in a low voice, trying to intimidate him, but Sean laughed in his face.

"Please, Daryl," he gave back with a smirk on his face, "correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you also the guy who oggled your red-haired buddy's friend all night..?" He wiggled his eyebrows for good measure, and Daryl had the decency to blush, averting his eyes.

"Sorry," he mumbled, but Sean leaned closer and said "Come again?"

Grumbling, Daryl looked back up into Sean's crystal blue eyes that sparkled with a hint of amusement and repeated "I'm sorry, a'ight? Geez."

Sean, apparently too good natured to keep on carrying a grudge for a longer length of time, smiled at Daryl and nodded. "Ok," he said, grinning, "I think I can live with that. You got time for a drink, or are you headed back to your friends?"

Startled by Sean's request, it took Daryl a moment to catch up on the conversation, but then he answered with a shrug of his impressive shoulders "Sure, why not?"

They headed over to the bar, got drinks, and leaned against the counter. Sean asked Daryl about his relationship with Gareth, assuring him that his intentions where the hairdresser was concerned were limited to that one night – though he did admit that he it had been a good one. Before Daryl could get all up in his face again, Sean held up a hand to stop him.

"I think," he said amused, "that answers my question. So you two really want to start something steady?" Sean let some doubt drip into his voice as he said that, and Daryl looked at him questioningly. "Yes," Sean answered Daryl's inaudible question, "we talked about you two over breakfast at that diner where we met you and your brother. But the thing is, I just can't see Gareth in a monogamous relationship."

Daryl laughed. "Right. But see, I am not the typical guy for that either. Besides," he added in a thoughtful manner, "we still have to sort all that out with each other."

"Will you meet soon?" Sean asked, and Daryl nodded.

"Yeah, probably tomorrow. We will be on the next cruise together, so we decided to see each other before that."

They were silent for a while, and Sean cast some glances Daryl's way, who eventually picked up on it. "Why are you looking at me like that..?" He asked, and Sean blushed.

"You noticed that, huh..?" He asked, embarrassed. While he went on to explain how he had the feeling that he had met Daryl before, or at least somebody who looked a lot like him, Daryl found it hard to concentrate, since Sean had looked so cute when he blushed.

Now I'm beginning to understand why everyone and their sister always feels the need to tell me how cute I look when I blush myself, he thought amused, chuckling, and Sean asked him to explain what he was laughing about.

"So," Daryl asked later, "what is it all about – I look like someone you met on a vacation, did I get that correctly?"

"Yeah," Sean confirmed. "I was in Ireland, visting family..." Here, he got interrupted by Daryl's chuckles, and he sent a deprecating stare over, as he continued with clearing his throat. "As I was saying, family. Of course, I went out clubbing as well, and I had a lovely encounter with that guy, Murphy."

Here, Daryl could not hold it in any longer, and laughed out loud. Sean only shook his head in mild annoyance, while Daryl squeezed out "Don't they all have names like that? It's either Murphy or Patrick, well, Paddy, huh?"

Sean shook his head. "You're awfully judgmental for a guy that comes from a redneck family, you know?" He took a sip from his drink before he continued. "Anyways, you and Murph, you could be brothers. You don't have any family over there..?"

Daryl, who had sobered up when Sean brought his own heritage into their discussion, shook his head. "Nope, me and my brother are the only ones left of us Dixons. And," he added, "as Merle would say, good riddance to that. Rednecks, you know." He shrugged matter-of-factly, and Sean laughed.

"Now guess what my second name is..?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows, and Daryl was at a loss.

"Wait," he said after a minute, "it can't be Murphy... Patrick?! Get out!"

Sean bowed in an exaggregated way to indicate that Patrick was indeed his second name, and he grinned from ear to ear while he did it, making Daryl laugh yet again.

They talked for a few more minutes, but then Daryl remembered that he had left all his friends earlier, and excused himself to go back to them – not without expressing his hopes to meet Sean again sometime, and the blonde guy with the sunny nature agreed whole heartedly.

When Daryl got back to his group of friends, he found them in the middle of a discussion, concerning who would go home with who. Seeing as they all had met on a cruise, that was not too surprising, and when they noticed Daryl, everyone assumed that he would be going home with Michonne, as Andrea would drive with Sara to the next hotel for the night – but Michonne shook her head.

"I think Daryl has his eye on somebody else," she explained. "But speaking of which, Daryl," she looked him in the eye, "don't think I've forgotten about our date!"

Daryl, who had been in the process of oggling Duke some more, looked alarmed, before he remembered what she was talking about. "Sure, showing each other our weapons of choice, I remember." He said, grinning in a way that indicated his pun was absolutely intended.

Michonne smiled. "Yep, that's what I meant. Can I give you a call..? Hey, aren't you about to go on your last cruise soon?!"

They all talked about future arrangements for a while, until Duke, who had managed to sneak between Abraham and Daryl at some point, whispered into Daryl's ear. "So, did I get that correctly? You wanna go home with me..?" He looked at Daryl, trying to figure out if he had gotten that right, and the bartender nodded ever so slightly, blushing yet again.

But before Duke could tell him how cute that looked, everybody went into goodbye mode, and Daryl found himself with his arms full of Michonne again. She pressed her whole body firmly against his, grabbed his hair with both her hands and pulled him towards herself. "Just a reminder of sorts..." She whispered, just before she kissed the shit out of him, and Daryl responded just as heated.

Abraham used the opportunity to pull Duke aside, talking to him in a hurried way, and Duke nodded in understanding.

After they agreed on a time to call each other, Michonne and Daryl parted, and Duke stepped up after everybody else had left.

"So," Duke asked Daryl, "you still wanna be with me?" When Daryl confirmed that, Duke asked him if they could go to Daryl's home, but the bartender laughed at the mental image of bringing a guy home to fuck each other's brains out, since he shared a house with his brother, and he told Duke as much.

"How about we go and get a hotel room as well?" He suggested, and Duke nodded.

"Probably the best idea, since I am staying with Abe and Sara while I'm in town." They left the club and headed over to Daryl's truck, and he drove them to a hotel that was not exactly cheap, but known for its discretion.

***

They stopped at a drugstore on their way to the hotel, and Duke got out to get a few things for them. When they had checked into a room, an awkward silence spread between them.

"Well," Duke said, brushing a hand through his hair, "this is weird, huh?" He looked at Daryl, and the bartender nodded. But a moment later, the hunky soldier found himself wrapped up in a tight embrace, and he hugged Daryl back on pure instinct first, sighing against his broad shoulders.

"I love the way you're built, Daryl," he whispered, his lips brushing Daryl's skin while he talked, and a shiver ran down along the bartender's spine, making him moan softly.

"Thanks, but you're not too bad on the eyes, either," he gave back, laughing under his breath. "In fact," he elaborated, "when I saw you tonight, one of my first thoughts was that you look even better in person than in the picture Abe showed me on the cruise."

Lifting his head to look Daryl in the eyes, Duke said "Right, he told me about you. But let me ask you this," here, his gaze turned curious, "what's it with you and women? I mean, don't get me wrong, but I had a hard time believing Abe when he told me that you and Sara..?"

Daryl chuckled. "Yep. I helped her and Andrea out a bit..." He wiggled his eyebrows, then winked, and Duke burst out laughing.

"I still can't believe it. You know, he and Sara had this arrangement like, forever, but so far, she never acted on it."

Daryl nodded in understanding. "Yeah, they told me." He moved one of his hands from around Duke's slim waist up to his handsome face, caressing his cheek before he gently touched his full lips. "Can I kiss you?" He whispered, and Duke nodded, seemingly out of words for the moment.

Daryl leaned forward, closed his eyes, and touched Duke's slightly open lips with his own in a gentle kiss. Seconds later, he moved the tip of his tongue over the lower lip, asking for entrance, and Duke's own tongue slid out, meeting Daryl's in a leisurely dance that elicited moans out of them both.

When they parted again, Daryl looked deep into Dukes eyes. He had to clear his throat before he was able to ask him a question. "What colour do your eyes have? I can't really figure it out. In the club, I thought it was due to the lightning, but here..."

Duke chuckled. "They look different with the light, but mostly, they're green-ish, I'd say." He smiled at Daryl, while his hands began to roam over the bartender's broad back up to his shoulders. "Man," he sighed again, "your shoulders are impressive."

Daryl could not help the blush that crept over his cheeks. "Nah, they're just..." He began, but Duke chided him.

"Never diffuse a compliment, Daryl." Here, Duke began to pull at the hem of Daryl's shirt. "Would you lose that for me..?" He asked, and Daryl stepped back to oblige. When he had thrown his shirt haphazardly over one of the chairs next to a small table, he turned back around – only to find Duke oggling his body with huge eyes.

"Right, not impressive at all," Duke said in a mocking voice, when he had managed to find it again. Next thing Daryl knew, the soldier had gotten rid of his own shirt in a hurry and threw himself at Daryl, touching his body everywhere. They kissed again, and the heat between them was constantly on the rise.

"Turn around for me..?" Daryl whispered into the soldier's ear at some point, and Duke obliged, turning around in Daryl's embrace. He leaned against his chest, as he felt Daryl's hands deftly opening first his belt, then his pants soon after.

One hand still roaming Duke's upper body, Daryl's right hand sneaked into his briefs, grabbed his cock and gave it a few strokes. Duke moaned loudly, his head falling back against Daryl's shoulder, as he held on tight to both of his sides.

Daryl peppered his neck and shoulders with kisses and small bites, nipping at the taut flesh until goosebumps where scattered all over Duke's back and arms. He grinded his ass against Daryl's erection, and a low growl hit his ear. "Gawd," Daryl rasped, "I want you."

"Hm," Duke sassed, "I figured as much."

Laughing, Daryl gave back "You always this cocky?" He grabbed Duke's shoulders, turned him around, and shoved both his pants and briefs down, not without getting a good feel of his ass of course. Duke toed off his shoes, then got rid of his pants entirely, before he treated Daryl back in kind.

When they were finally naked, they stumbled over to the huge bed, trying to feel each other up every step of the way, which resulted in some ungraceful tumbling down onto the bed. They laughed together, und soon were kissing and touching again – until Duke cursed under his breath.

Before Daryl even got to ask what was wrong, the hunky guy had pulled a stunt that Daryl would have thought impossible if somebody had described it to him, and while he still watched with huge eyes, Duke was out of the bed and headed over to the table, where he had left his bag from the drugstore.

"What the heck was that?" Daryl asked, awe clearly audible in his voice, and Duke blushed.

"Oh, um, just some dance move I learned a while ago..." He shrugged, but Daryl could not let that go just yet.

"Very impressive, and not just 'some move'," he air-quoted, shaking his head. "You know, I would love to see you dance sometime. Too bad we did not hit the floor tonight. Or wait a second – did you, and I missed it somehow..?" He asked, but Duke shook his head.

"Nope, not tonight. Well, maybe we can do that some other time..?" He suggested, but seemed to remember something then. "Wait. Abe told me about that guy, Gareth, that him?"

When Daryl nodded, Duke plowed on. "Anyways, Abe said you two are about to be an item?"

Sighing, Daryl explained for the second time that evening that he and Gareth were not sure yet what the terms of their relationship might be, as he pulled Duke back into his arms, where he smothered him very effectively with a deep kiss that lasted for some time.

As they both came back for air, Duke's cock was back in Daryl's hand, which ended all discussion about any other topic except one. "I think we both wanna fuck, right?" Daryl stated, and Duke could only nod, moaning loudly. "Right," Daryl moved on in a teasing tone, "so, the question is..."

Here, he got interrupted. "You," Duke panted, "I want you to fuck me."

Grinning, Daryl leaned over to the bedside table on which Duke had put lube and condoms, grabbed the lube and prepared his fingers, while his other hand never left Duke's leaking member. Seconds later, he was teasing a tight hole, located between sexy ass cheeks, and Duke was a wanton mess in his arms.

When his fingers breeched Duke's entrance, the soldier began to push himself on Daryl's fingers, and the bartender groaned "Touch your cock for me?" Duke obliged instantly, which provided Daryl with a hot show to watch.

Eventually, he found that Duke was ready to take Daryl's own cock, and he grabbed a condom from the bedside table to roll it down his rock-hard erection, a sight that did not go unnoticed by Duke, who watched with bated breath while he gave himself a few more strokes.

"You want it from behind or front?" Daryl asked, and Duke laid down on his back instead of an answer, so he would be able to watch as Daryl moved between his legs and lined himself up, nudging the head of his cock into Duke's hot ass.

As soon as he had bottomed out, Daryl waited for Duke's sign, and when it came, Daryl began to fuck him at a relentless pace, since both of them were more than ready by then.

Feeling that his orgasm was close, Daryl leaned down to kiss his partner-for-the-night sloppily, moaning into his mouth as he swallowed Duke's moans in return. The soldier had both his hands on Daryl's biceps, trying to ground himself as much as he felt Daryl up, when another vicious push hit his prostate, and Duke lost it.

Daryl followed suit, while Duke's cock erupted in thick spurts of hot cum between them, and when both their orgasms subsided, Daryl pulled out and fell down on the bed next to a panting Duke.

When Daryl got up to get rid of the condom and use the bathroom, he noticed that Duke had almost dozed off, and he nudged him gently. "Hey," he murmured, "wanna get cleaned up before you fall asleep?"

Duke nodded, and got up as well to follow Daryl into the bathroom, where the bartender cleaned them both with a towel that he had held under warm water for a moment.

When they had gotten back into bed, both of them still gloriously naked, Daryl spent a moment to think over how they might be sleeping, when the sheets next to him rustled, and seconds later, Duke's head landed on his chest, one of the soldier's arms slung across Daryl's middle.

He huffed a small laugh into Duke's hair, but thought something along the lines of 'what the heck', as he wrapped his arms around the already sleeping soldier. It only took Daryl moments to fall asleep as he listened to Duke's quiet snores, and his last coherent thought was, how sleep-enducing those sounds were.


	5. A Great Way to Start the Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl and Duke make good use of their hotel room, before Daryl drives back home to Merle...

Daryl woke up to the typical sounds of a bathroom being used. He opened his eyes reluctantly, peeking towards the bathroom door – where his gaze was met by a slightly more awake one out of Duke's beautiful, green-ish eyes.

"Hey, sleepyhead," he said, a half-smile playing around his full lips, and Daryl had to smile back.

"Hey," he grumbled, his southern drawl more audible since he had just woken up, "you up already?"

When Duke's grin turned into a full on smile, Daryl closed his eyes for a second, inwardly facepalming himself. Looking at Duke again, he ground out "I walked right into that one, huh..?"

Duke, one hand now leisurely stroking his growing member, winked at Daryl. "I'd say good pun indeed, coming from you." While saying this, he had walked back to the bed, cock still in hand.

Daryl swung his legs out of bed. "Need to take a leak first, but do carry on – hold that thought," he advised, making a beeline for the bathroom, where he hurried along as much as possible, considering the impending additional roll in the sheets with the sexy soldier. Daryl made sure to be extra careful when it came to washing his cock and his hands, before he headed back into the room – where Duke laid, spread out in the middle of the huge bed, stroking his now fully erect cock.

When Daryl noticed the bead of pre-cum pooling at the tip, he could not stop himself from crawling onto the mattress. Kneeling between Duke's legs, he bent forward, leaned down and licked the tip of Duke's hard length slowly, all the while looking him deep in the eyes. A low moan escaped Duke's throat, and he closed his eyes briefly.

"You're a sexy beast, Daryl," he whispered, watching with bated breath as Daryl began to lick a line up from the soldier's balls towards the tip, where he wrapped both lips around the swollen head, sucking slowly. Both his hands where placed on Duke's hips, holding him down to the bed, while Duke kept on stroking his own member – until Daryl growled up in the direction of Duke's face. "Hands off now, you hear?" He pulled away from the cock in front of his face for a moment and looked into Duke's eyes. "Wanna take you in deep."

Duke's gasp sounded strangled, as Daryl made good on his word immediately, taking Duke's erection as far into his mouth as he could without gagging. He closed his eyes and listened to Duke's moans, while he sucked his cock with all his considerable abilities, hollowing out his cheeks and humming every so often, to let the vibrations drive his bedmate wild.

When Daryl felt like Duke was close to bursting, he withdraw from his erection, though he continued to work him over with his hand, jerking at a leisurely pace. "You want to come in my mouth, or..?" That was as far as he got before Duke began to nod frantically. "Well," Daryl stated, while he had the hardest time not to laugh out loud over Duke's reaction, "will you pay me back in kind afterwards?"

Another nod, and Duke's rambled "Sure, Daryl, whatever you want, just don't stop now, please..!"

Grinning like the Chesire Cat, Daryl bowed down low again to continue his work on Duke's rock-hard length. He sucked most of the top part, while his hand worked over what he did not take in his mouth, as his other hand fondled the heavy balls gently.

Duke came suddenly and violently. He tried to muffle his scream with a pillow, as he panted through one of the most intense orgasms he had ever had, and Daryl swallowed every last drop, before he let go and crawled over Duke's leg to lie down next to him with his arms spread invitingly.

As soon as Duke felt like he could move, he turned around and snuggled up to Daryl's hard body, closing his eyes as his head hit Daryl's broad chest. The bartender kissed his forehead gently as he wrapped his arms around Duke to hold him for a while.

Minutes later, Duke made as if he intended to get up, but Daryl stopped him. "How about we stay like this for a moment longer, and then go shower together, huh?" He suggested, and Duke looked up at him.

"Ok," he mumbled, before he kissed Daryl passionately. "Thank you, Daryl, that was awesome."

"Hm," the bartender hummed, "felt awsome, too."

Duke giggled, and Daryl laughed along with him. Then, he disentangled himself and got out of bed, walked around it and pulled Duke up by his equally muscular arms. They hugged for a moment, then walked into the bathroom together.

When they stood under the spray, both Duke and Daryl made quick work of washing themselves. As soon as he was done, Duke started to put his hands all over Daryl, humming in appreciation as he did so, complimenting the bartender on his toned body. Blushing, Daryl mumbled that it was not worth mentioning it, but Duke told him yet again to just take the compliment and run with it.

Daryl smiled, and Duke kissed him, starting out slow, but deepening the kiss as soon as Daryl responded. Moaning, Daryl pressed himself close to Duke, who got his hands on Daryl's ass by then, kneading both cheeks. He pulled Daryl even closer, then kissed along his jawline, down the side of his neck, as his clever fingers drifted down the cleft between said cheeks, brushing over Daryl's tight hole, making the bartender shiver in the process.

Duke licked a line over Daryl's collarbone, which turned out to be a clever distraction, since Daryl moaned loudly from the sensation, only realising that one of Duke's fingers had penetrated his back entrance when the deed was already done. Carefully, Duke began to move his finger, kissing Daryl again, who responded sloppily.

Going down on his knees, Duke opened his mouth to wrap his lips around Daryl's raging hard-on, and the bartender had to lean against the tiles to support himself, not willing to concentrate on anything else than the sensations caused by Duke. The soldier gave it his everything, trying to make Daryl feel as good as he had done to him minutes ago.

Occassionally, Duke licked Daryl's balls, carefully taking one into his mouth, sucking on it lightly, and Daryl tried hard to keep his moans in check, but had to bite his fist to muffle the sound soon. Duke lifted Daryl's balls and leaned forward to lick the skin between his heavy sack and his hole, where his fingers were still working to make Daryl feel good.

"Duke," Daryl growled, and the soldier looked up at him, while his hand began to stroke Daryl's cock, "I'm close."

"Good," Duke answered, grinning, and with that, he began a relentless assault on the swollen head of Daryl's cock, sucking and licking it with hollowed cheeks, as he looked up at the bartender with his beautiful eyes.

"You know exactly what you're doin', dontcha?" Daryl groused, but there was no real heat in his implied reproach, as his moans became more frequent, the urge to come audible by then. Duke hightened his efforts yet again, pumping his fingers in and out of Daryl's hole, while he kept on blowing him.

Moments later, Daryl's cock erupted in strings of hot cum, most of which landed in the shower and on his own stomach, as Duke lapped at his cock, watching in fascination until Daryl was almost done. Wrapping his lips around his cock once more, Duke gave Daryl just a tad more head, sucking the last drops from his member.

Duke got up again and grabbed the shower gel to wash the cum away, before he wrapped Daryl up in his arms, and they stood under the spray, catching their breaths.

Getting out before the water turned cold on them, both men toweled off, then went to dress in last night's clothes, wrinkling their noses. Realising that they both did that, they laughed, and began to talk for a bit, while making sure they grabbed all their stuff.

"What did you and Abe talk about, right before we left the club," Daryl said, "if you don't mind me asking?"

Duke chuckled. "Oh, he warned me, that's all. You know," he elaborated when faced with Daryl's puzzled look, "not to get too attached since you are sort of taken. I guess he was talking about that Gareth person?"

Daryl nodded, and Duke laughed before he added "Oh, and he also admitted to be jealous. You two seem to have gotten along well, huh..?" He wiggled his eyebrows for good measure, and Daryl had to laugh.

"Yeah," he admitted. "We also agreed on meeting again sometime, you know, with Michonne, Sara and everyone?"

"What?!" Duke asked, looking flabbergasted. "Like an orgy or something?"

As soon as Daryl nodded, Duke blurted "Can I come, too?"

Daryl laughed so hard, he had to swipe away a couple tears, but it took Duke a while to realise what was so funny about his question. When he did though, he chimed right in.

They exchanged phone numbers before they left the room, kissing and hugging one last time, then went into the lobby to return the key. Daryl drove them to a diner for a quick breakfast, then he followed Duke's directions to the hotel Abraham and Sara had booked their room at. They said goodbye to each other in the car, and Daryl drove off after swearing to call Duke once he was on shore for good after his last cruise.

* * *

Daryl stopped for gas on his way back home, and used the opportunity to call Gareth to confirm their date for the evening. They agreed on meeting at a bar in Atlanta for a drink first, and Daryl hung up in good spirits, after the hairdresser had told him how much he was looking forward to see him again, feeling exactly the same way about Gareth.

When he arrived at the house he shared with his brother, he found Merle in the kitchen, apparently hung over from the night before, starting some strong coffee, but before he could say more than a greeting, the bathroom door opened, and a pretty woman with brown eyes and dark locks came out.

Daryl looked between her and Merle, but it was the woman who finally spoke up when it became obvious that Merle did not feel like talking just yet. She walked towards Daryl, stuck her hand out for him to shake, and said "Hi, I'm Karen. You must be Merle's brother, Daryl, right?"

Nodding, Daryl shook her hand, and grinned. "Yup," he answered, "are you staying for breakfast?"

Karen looked over at Merle, who seemed to be rather uncharacteristically shy. "Hm," she replied tactfully, "maybe some other time."

Daryl winked at her while Merle's back was turned. "A'ight, Karen. Nice meeting you." He turned to go to his room, excusing himself, but not before telling Karen goodbye and that he hoped to see her again soon, to which she smiled and winked right back. Daryl made sure to only come out of his room again when she was gone, before he went to talk to his brother.

"So," he mused, "Karen, huh?" Daryl winked at Merle, who groaned, expecting some teasing. "Well. I like her," Daryl added, before he asked his brother how she had gotten away, since he had not noticed any other car in front of the house.

Merle grouchily admitted that he had called her a cab, then asked his brother about his night on the town, in a feeble attempt to divert his attention. But it was no use. Daryl was not one to pass up on a good opportunity to tease his brother, especially since Merle had done his own share of teasing about Daryl's cruise squeezes.

After a while though, Daryl decided to cut Merle some slack and asked him if it was possible that he and Karen were serious. When his older brother blushed, Daryl could not believe his eyes. After a moment to gather his thoughts, he got earnest again. "Merle," he said, "I'm sorry, a'ight? I hope it'll work out with Karen, she seems like a lovely woman. Just couldn't pass up on the chance to tease you some, you know?"

Merle nodded. "'S ok, little brother, but let's talk about something else now, huh?"

When Daryl agreed, Merle asked him about his plans for the day. The brothers decided to do some grocery shopping and such, afterwards they planned on doing small repairs around the house until it was time for Daryl's date.

"You nervous already," Merle asked him with a wink, and Daryl grinned.

"A bit," he answered, "but mostly I can't wait to meet Gareth again."

"Damn, little brother," Merle sighed, putting his still somewhat acing head into his hands for a moment before he continued. "Who woulda thought that you'd fall for one of them queery types one day?"

Daryl only rolled his eyes, then laughed when Merle shook his head – only to find that it was a bad idea to do so right afterwards, since the pounding got louder again. Snickering, Daryl got up and went to get his truck ready, while Merle put some stuff away. Together, the Dixon brothers went about their day and had lots of fun along the way, even though they did mostly day to day chores.

On his way to Atlanta in the evening, Daryl thought about how much his relationship to his brother had changed over the last few months.

First, before he went on the cruises, Merle had that rude awakening about one of his former bedmates being tested positive, which shook both Dixons up quite a bit. Then, Merle left his trailer and moved in with Daryl, not knowing if it would work out with both of them under one roof, as it had proven to be difficult at times when they were younger and still living with their shitty parents.

But they found soon enough that their relationship had changed over time, and it was easier for them to get themselves together, living mostly in harmony, aside from the occasional fight and lots of teasing of course.

Daryl mused over the fact that Merle seemed to finally have fallen for a woman he met at a bar, when he parked his truck in the parking lot of the gay bar where he was supposed to meet up with Gareth.

He was just about to get out of his truck when his phone rang.

 


	6. Together again...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl and Gareth get re-acquainted to each other, and go grab a bite to eat...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, the chapter that contains the reason why this is dedicated to Krissy as well as pharmtechgirl! Sorry Schätzelein that it took me some time, but it's finally here; your very own crack ship has reached port!

Daryl's heart stopped for a moment, and he fumbled to get his phone out quick, thinking that it might be Gareth, canceling on him at the last minute. He let out an audible sigh when he looked at the display, then swiped the phone to take the call.

"Daryl, is that you?" Shane asked, sounding excited for some reason, and Daryl reluctantly admitted that it was indeed him.

"What's the matter," Shane wondered, "is this a bad time to call?"

Daryl cleared his throat. "No, Shane, it's fine. Just thought it was someone else, 's all. What's up?" He asked the cop, in an attempt to divert Shane's attention from himself, but the cop would not be thrown off the trail so easily.

"Daryl, come on. Spill." He teased, and Daryl grumbled something about friends who knew him too well, to which Shane just laughed, before he waited some more.

"Ok, ok," Daryl admitted when he realised that Shane had meant it. "I thought it was Gareth, calling to cancel, you know? We are about to meet."

"Oh, so this _IS_ a bad time, then," Shane retorted. "Better make it quick, then." And with that he went on to tell Daryl why he had called, giving his new address to the bartender with the plea not to tell anyone except for his brother. Daryl had to chuckle over that last remark, and Shane chimed right in.

"Yeah," he mused, "who would've thought that he would be in on the conspiracy, huh?"

Daryl could practically hear the cop's face break out into his signature grin. He had to laugh, but got serious again right afterwards. "So," he asked, "when are you moving over to the big city?"

Shane told him, and Daryl was speechless for a minute. "So soon, huh?" He mumbled, almost to himself. "Want me to tell Merle you might need some help moving your stuff?" He added as an afterthought, and Shane told him to please ask his brother, since Daryl would be still on his last cruise at the time of his move.

They exchanged a few more remarks, but hung up soon, with Daryl wishing Shane luck with his move and the new job he would start soon after moving. The cop thanked him, not without inviting Daryl to come over and inspect his new abode soon.

Grinning to himself over the double meaning of that last remark, Daryl stowed his phone away and got out of the truck, heading for the bar.

He went inside and greeted a few acquaintances he knew from the club, as he headed over to the counter for a beer, but when he made to grab it and go to find a place to sit and wait for his date, he heard someone squeal in delight behind him.

Next thing he knew, he got twirled around, and found himself wrapped up in the hairdresser's arms so tightly he though he might pass out from it, but hugged him back just as much, closing his eyes. Sighing, he mumbled into the general direction of Gareth's ear "Missed you so much,", while Gareth said something similar at the same time.

Chuckling, they parted just as much as necessary to be able to look into each other's faces. Locking eyes, both guys felt like time stood still for a few heartbeats, then they both leaned forward, and their lips met in a sweet, but urgent kiss.

Gareth ended the kiss only to lean in and whisper into Daryl's ear "Can't wait to take you home, Daryl," and the bartender shivered from both the nearness of his lover and the seductiveness in Gareth's voice. He laid his head on the hairdresser's shoulder again, closing his eyes as he nodded to signal that he felt exactly the same way.

They stood like this for some minutes, just enjoying to be in each other's arms again, before they parted.

"Are we staying for a drink, or..?" Gareth asked, and just as Daryl was about to answer, somebody cleared their throat audibly to their side. Both looked over, and Daryl exclaimed "Tara!"

The woman in question looked bashful. "Sorry to interrupt..."

Daryl was having none of that, and introduced her to Gareth after the obligatory fistbump was exchanged. They talked for a minute, and Daryl asked if Tara was alone, or if Alisha went with her, when a distinctively male voice greeted them. Daryl, recognising the voice instantly, closed his eyes for a second before he turned around to face Rick.

The handsome guy smiled and invited them to join him and Tara for a drink, but the woman interrupted him. "Rick, seriously." She shook her head at him. "Can't you see that these two won't stay long enough to have a drink, least of all together with other people?"

Daryl laughed, and Gareth said "Sorry, Rick, but she is right about that. Maybe some other time?"

Rick smiled, but then his face got serious. "Daryl, you heard anything from Shane? I tried to contact him a couple times, and he hasn't answered yet."

Gareth asked if that was unusual for Shane, and Rick nodded. "Yeah, since we are best friends, and have been like, forever."

"We went to Atlanta yesterday, with Merle, to that shooting range, you know?" Daryl commented, and Rick nodded.

"Yeah, I think I know which one you mean. Weird. Well," he said, perking up, "I will just try again later. But don't let me hold you any longer, you two. I guess I'll talk to you some other time again, Daryl?"

The bartender nodded, and they said their goodbyes, Daryl's beer long forgotten on the counter. Daryl managed to give Tara a hint to follow them outside for a second when Rick went to use the restrooms.

If Gareth wondered about that move, he did not say anything, and the three of them went outside together.

As soon as they stood in front of the bar, Daryl asked her what her meeting with Rick was all about. Tara told him and Gareth that they had talked about Rick's divorce, but that he had also wondered about Shane's behaviour several times. Tara wondered out loud why he even did that in front of her, since she had never met Shane personally.

Daryl, seeing his suspicions confirmed, asked her to please keep what he was about to tell her a secret for now.

After she gave him her word on that, he clued her in on Shane and his infatuation with his fellow cop and friend. Daryl rushed trough his explanation, and begged Tara not to let anything slip.

"Oh dear," Tara mumbled with a troubled expression, "so you did keep in contact with Shane, huh?" She sighed when Daryl nodded. "Well, I will not tell him, that's for darn sure. No need for me to get between those frontiers."

Shaking herself visibly, she added "Come on, you two, get going, and have a great evening, you hear?"

Both Daryl and Gareth laughed, assuring her that they would, and they were headed to the parking lot only a fistbump later.

When Daryl saw what car Gareth was headed to, he stopped in his tracks, looking at his lover disbelievingly. "Don't tell me you are driving that thing..?"

"What," Gareth asked right back, obviously not understanding what Daryl meant, "the Prius? Why wouldn't I drive that car?"

Faced with Gareth's bewildered expression, Daryl could not help himself. He laughed out loud, and had the hardest time to rope himself back in when it became obvious that Gareth did not think it was too amusing after some time.

"I'm sorry, Gareth," Daryl gasped, "but seriously – a Prius?!" He shook his head, pointing out his own truck. "That over there, is what I call a car." He clarified, but Gareth just smiled before it was his turn to shake his head.

"Daryl," he said, "you do realise that your car is not exactly, shall we say, good for the environment, right..?" And he gave Daryl a meaningful look, clearly implying that it would be better if Daryl did not argue that point.

"Alright, alright," Daryl rolled his eyes, "keep your 'environmentally friendly' car." He carefully used airquotes, and Gareth snorted.

He sighed audibly before he stated "I take it to mean that we are taking your polluter, then?" Not waiting for an answer he started to walk towards Daryl's truck, and the bartender followed close behind, when he heard Gareth say "And stop looking at my ass, cutiepie, a'ight?" The last word was spoken with a mock drawl, and Daryl grinned.

When they arrived at the truck, he walked to the passenger side of the car and opened the door with a florish, then he went around to the driver's side to get behind the wheel. Gareth told him how to reach his apartment, and they got there soon after they left the parking lot of the bar.

Gareth directed Daryl towards a parking spot, and the bartender wolf-whistled when he laid eyes on the hair salon that was located on the premises. It looked very pricey and classy, but the biggest surprise was the name.

"Um, Gareth?" Daryl asked when he had parked. "Are you, by any chance, related to that A. West..?" He pointed over towards the sign above the store while he said that.

Seeing the bartender's wondering expression, Gareth laughed. "Yep," he confirmed, "that would be my cousin, Andre. And no," he added when he saw that Daryl was about to open his mouth for a question, "he is not gay. At. All. In fact," he chuckled, "I think I never met a straighter guy in like, ever."

Shaking his head, Daryl got out of the car, and they headed over to the salon, which had an adjacent building in the back, obviously added on much later than the original house was built. They went up to Gareth's apartment, and Daryl thought if his relations could indicate that Gareth planned on setting down at some point, working in the family business, as it were.

But he did not dare to ask, afraid to say something too soon, as they still had some negotiating to do. All this thinking made him realise that he was not too keen on having that particular talk, but before he could give that revelation any more thought, they had reached the entrance and Gareth practically swept him into his apartment, pushing Daryl up against the door as soon as he had closed it, his hot lips all over the bartender's face.

Both men were instantly glued to each other, their hands and lips touching and kissing every reachable part of the other's body, and their combined panting became more urgent by the minute.

Daryl would have felt embarrassed about his state of arousal, if it had not been for Gareth, who was fading no better. They stumbled towards the bedroom, found the bed somehow without even really looking where they were headed, and tumbled down onto the sheets, neither knowing nor caring who pulled who or sank down while being pulled at.

"Gawd," Daryl groaned, his voice barely above a whisper from all the moaning he had already done at that point, "I missed you so damn much..."

Gareth could only nod to indicate that he felt exactly the same, before he continued in his frantic attempt at getting the bartender naked as soon as possible.

They ended up in a state of half-dress, their clothes hanging off their bodies in a jumble, while Gareth kept on kissing Daryl with an urgency that rendered the bartender breathless.

Daryl jerked both their leaking erections, as Gareth teased all his sweet spots – and discovered some new onces, while he was at it, drawing the sweetest sounds from the bartender's mouth. Soon, both their orgasms crashed down on them, and the two lovers fell back down onto the sheets right next to each other, panting and sweating.

Minutes of just catching their breaths and enjoying each other's nearness later, Gareth turned on his side, his head propped up in his hand, looking down into Daryl's face. "I thought I knew how much I missed you, but I guess I did not even get close..." He whispered, carefully pushing a few strands out of Daryl's face.

Smiling, Daryl retorted that he felt the same. "But," he added, grinning, "your playing with my hair reminds me..."

"Let me guess," Gareth grinned, "it is getting a bit out of hand..?" He wiggled his eyebrows, and Daryl groaned, though there was no real heat in it.

"Yeah, something like that." He pushed himself up on his elbows before he continued – a move that was not lost to the hairdresser's keen observations. Daryl rolled his eyes. "Come on, it's not that impressive!"

"Well duh," Gareth replied, his tone a tad mocking, "it is. No," he added when it was clear that Daryl was about to deny that fact yet again, "don't talk back. You are a gorgeous hunk of a man. End of story. Now tell me what you were about to say before you distracted me so effectively..?" One of his eyebrows shot up in question, and Daryl sighed.

"Damn, speaking of gorgeous..." He followed the line of Gareth's brow with his finger, then cleared his throat audibly. "My hair. Right. It's just getting too long for that bartending job, so I thought you might have time to give it a trim again before the cruise?" He asked, and Gareth's smile would have lit up the room had it been dark outside already.

"Well," he said, while he was on his way down already, headed for Daryl's spent cock, "I will gladly do that, but how about we keep that in mind for tomorrow?" He licked his lips before he gave Daryl's length a teasingly slow lick from base to tip, then looked back up at Daryl before he stated "I am planning on another round here, before I need to eat something other than your meat."

And with that, he spent a long time tending to Daryl's member that stood back at attention almost immediately. Somewhere down the line of receiving one of his best blow jobs yet, Daryl had been told to grab the lube from the bedside table, and Gareth had started to get himself ready for Daryl.

When he felt that he was as well prepared as possible, he whispered into Daryl's ear "Take me, Daryl. I need you to fuck me again."

The answering groan was loud and heartfelt, as Daryl got up to get a condom and roll it down his length before he settled between the hairdresser's thighs, lining himself up. He plunged right in, accompanied by the chorus of their combined moans, then waited for Gareth to get re-accustomed to his girth. He used the time to lean down and exchange urgent, but sweet kisses with his lover, before he began to slowly up the pace with which he was thrusting into Gareth's back entrance.

When they were both breathless again, chasing after their release together, Gareth whispered into Daryl's ear. "Make me yours again, Daryl."

That was the bartender's undoing, and he came with a roar, pushing his cock deep inside Gareth's ass. When he was utterly spent, he pulled out, leaned forward, and took Gareth's cock into his mouth, sucking with all his might, teasing the hairdresser's orgasm from him.

Seeing that he had turned him into a helpless mess, Daryl crawled next to Gareth and gathered him into a tight hug, kissing his shoulder, and up his neck towards his waiting lips. They laid there for a long time, cooling down while kissing each other, until Gareth murmured "If we don't get up soon, I'm afraid I might fall asleep. How about a quick shower, huh?" He suggested, and Daryl nodded.

Soon afterwards, they were on their way to the nearest pizza place together, talking about this and that. Gareth wanted to know how far Daryl had gotten where the garage was concerned, and they still talked about that when they entered the fast food place.

They ordered at the counter, then took a drink each to a small table in a corner, talking some more while they waited for their food. When their order was being called, they went to get it, then headed back outside.

Just before Gareth left, he noticed a customer out of the corner of his eye. A man that he had hoped to never see again.

 


	7. ...and Lovin' it!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl spends the night at Gareth's - and a considerable portion of the next day, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note, there is a scene involving daddy kink up ahead, so if that happens to not be your cup of tea, feel free to sit this one out.  
> To my girls: I hope you like it!

Gareth managed a small nod of acknowledgement, since the man had clearly noticed him, then he hurried outside after Daryl, who promptly asked him if he had seen a ghost. The hairdresser only shook his head in a manner that indicated he would explain later, and they went back to his apartment in silence.

After dinner, Daryl remembered Gareth's reaction, and he asked him about it again. Reluctantly, Gareth explained that he had seen a man that reminded him of his past. That remark caused Daryl to listen even more attentively. "Come on, Gareth," Daryl tried to coax him, "clearly there's more to it. Spill?"

Gareth took a deep breath before he answered. "Look, Daryl, it's something in my past I'm not particularly proud of, ok? I..." He closed his eyes for a moment before he continued, visibly shaken now, "I experimented with drugs for a while. You know," He added when faced with Daryl's expression of complete lack in understanding, "to enhance the feelings while having sex?" He sighed deeply, looking ashamed. "I realised how dangerous it is quickly, but not before I got involved with that man, Philip Blake."

A sharp intake of breath to his side made him turn his head to look at Daryl.

"The car salesman at that shady dealership on the outskirts of town?" Daryl asked, and Gareth nodded. Looking thoughtful now, Daryl continued. "So that is why Merle has such a low opinion of the guy."

Gareth looked befuddled now. "Your brother?" When Daryl nodded, lost in thought, Gareth continued. "How does he know him?"

Now it was Daryl's turn to sigh. "Let's just say that Merle has his own past when it comes to drugs. And Dale, the guy the garage we are about to take over belongs to, never did business with that dealership. They are bad news..."

They sat together in silence for some time, before Daryl shook himself visibly. "Come on, let's go to bed, huh?"

When Gareth looked at him, Daryl wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, even though they both knew that they would most likely just sleep, and Gareth laughed. They went to bed on a lighter note then, which had been Daryl's intention all along.

After some wonderful time spent just lying in bed, cuddling, they both fell asleep. But when Daryl awoke during the night to use the bathroom, he returned to a restless hairdresser, who appeared to be in the grip of a nightmare.

Daryl got back into bed, pulled the sheets up and Gareth back into his arms, hugging him tightly and whispering sweet nothings into his ear until he kept on sleeping peacefully.

* * *

When Daryl woke up the next time around, it was to a room bathed in sunlight, the spot next to him was deserted and the scents of coffee, bacon and eggs wafted towards his nose. He closed his eyes for a moment, enjoying the situation before he slowly got out of bed. Gareth saw him from the kitchen and went to hug him.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," he murmured into Daryl's ear. "I gotta admit, I like you this way – all ruffled up, complete with bed hair." Smiling, he kissed Daryl, then asked him if he wanted to take a shower first, but the bartender was all for breakfast. He went to use the bathroom, but came back soon to sit down at the small table in Gareth's kitchenette.

During their breakfast, they talked about this and that, and Daryl decided not to bring up Gareth's nightmare. But he made a mental note to talk to his brother about that Blake guy soon. When there was a lull in their conversation, Daryl suddenly sat up straight, a rather horrified expression on his face.

"What's wrong?" Gareth asked, puzzled, and Daryl shook himself out of his reverie to answer.

"It's just, I dunno..." He cleared his throat before he tried again. "I just realised how weird our relationship is."

When Gareth did not appear to understand his impications right away, Daryl continued. "Well," he blushed, "I, for instance, spent the night before yesterday with someone else..." He cast his eyes down, but Gareth lifted his chin right back up with two of his fingers to look him in the eye.

"I can't see how that is a reason for you to blush and get all embarrassed. We agreed on this, remember?" He kissed Daryl briefly, before returning to eating, asking casually "Anyone I know?"

Chuckling, Daryl answered. "Don't think so. Guy called Duke?"

Gareth scrunched his face up in thought, but shook his head after a moment. "Nope, never heard of him." He took another bite before he looked at Daryl thoughtfully. "You know, my last cruise was pretty wild."

Daryl nodded before he agreed. "Mine 's well."

Gareth wiggled his fingers in an unmistakable gimme more gesture, and Daryl laughed before he launched right into a description of his latest adventures. Even though he tried to give Gareth the Cliff's Notes version, he ended up talking for quite some time, closing with how he had joked about being Aaron and Eric's best man.

Gareth, who had listend with mounting curiousity, broke out into laughter. "Ok, ok," he wheezed, "you win!"

Daryl, looking smug, smiled at him.

When he had managed to calm down again, Gareth suggested for Daryl to shower second, so that his hair would still be wet enough for Gareth to cut it, but when he saw Darl's pout, he asked "What's wrong?"

Daryl fidgeted for a moment. "I just remembered the way you washed my hair when you cut it last..." His eyes had glazed over, and Gareth looked like a cat that had just caught the canary.

"Alright, let's just shower together then," he stated, but when Daryl perked up at that, Gareth shook his finger in Daryl's face mockingly. "No funny business though, you hear?"

Faced with Daryl's disappointed expression, he continued to explain "I got plans for later, ok?"

Nodding, Daryl got up to help Gareth with the dishes, and soon afterwards they were enjoying a shower together. Gareth washed Daryl's hair very carefully, and the bartender sighed in bliss. Afterwards, he motioned for Gareth to turn around, and the hairdresser did, an expression of wonder on his face, clearly amazed about the fact that somebody wanted to return the favour.

When they were both clean, they spent some time just standing in a tight embrace under the stream, kissing each other lovingly.

Later on, Daryl found himself sitting on a chair in Gareth's apartment, clad in only a pair of briefs and a shirt, when Gareth put a wrap around him, tying it behind his neck. He combed Daryl's hair through and began to section off strands to cut, the repetitive snipping sound of his scissors lulling Daryl into a zoned out state. He just sat quietly, letting the professional work, trusting Gareth to get it right.

When Gareth seemed to be satisfied with the result, he went to get his blow dryer and dried Daryl's hair for a few minutes, then got out the vacuum cleaner to get rid of the cut off hair. But when Daryl made to get up, Gareth pushed him right back into the chair.

"Nu-hu," he told him, "I got plans, remember..?" He threw one of his signature hot glances in Daryl's direction, and the bartender's knees promptly turned to jelly. Oh, he thought to himself, I got it bad alright...

"Close your eyes, cutie, and no peeking, you hear?" Gareth called, and Daryl, wondering what was about to happen, closed his eyes, waiting. He heard drawers being pulled out and closed again and the ruffle of clothes, which led him to wonder if Gareth was stripping.

"Ok," Gareth told him as he stood in front of Daryl again, "open up!"

Daryl did, and saw himself faced with the sight of the hairdresser, only clad in a tiny pair of men's lingerie panties.

"Ta-da," Gareth said with a florish, "what do you think?" He wiggled his eyebrows, and Daryl laughed over his antics before he got serious.

"Should've known that you would own stuff like that..." He hummed in appreciation when Gareth, who had switched on his stereo, began to dance to Nazareth's Hair of the Dog.

When Daryl had voiced his approval concerning the hairdresser's musical choice, he asked Gareth thoughtfully "You know what those panties remind me of..."

"...maybe a maiden's apron?" Gareth continued his sentence, and Daryl nodded.

"Well," Gareth said in a suggestive tone as he sat down on Daryl's lap, rotating his hips to the music with his arms wrapped around Daryl's neck, "that's because I am about to serve you, mister," he whispered into Daryl's ear, before he began to dish out small licks and bites around the ear.

Daryl moaned as he closed his eyes, his hands on Gareth's moving hips. They kissed passionately, and Daryl felt their hard erections rubbing against each other, separated only by Daryl's briefs, the wrap, and Gareth's tiny excuse for a pair of pants.

Gareth got back up and continued his lap dance for Daryl, who already felt like he could not take much more, when Gareth casually nudged his knees apart and bowed down to kiss him again before he knelt on the floor between Daryl's legs. Gareth ducked underneath the wrap, grabbed the waistband of Daryl's briefs and tugged down carefully in order to set Dary's raging hard-on free.

Knowing that Gareth was under the wrap, but unable to actually see him, turned Daryl on so much more, and he moaned loudly. Gareth answered with an appreciative hum, before he engulfed Daryl's length with his hot lips, bobbing his head up and down, while his deft hands crept up and underneath Daryl's shirt to tweak his nipples.

Daryl felt his orgasm fast approaching, his moans got even louder and more desperate. He had a feeling as if Gareth grinned around the head of Daryl's cock as he reached it again, sucking on it for a moment as he gently fondled Daryl's heavy balls.

Daryl could not help himself; with a gasp he shot his load down Gareth's eager throat, and the hairdresser swallowed it all greedily.

When Daryl was entirely spent and feeling boneless, Gareth ducked back from underneath the wrap and got up to untie it. He gave Daryl a hand as the bartender made to get up, and they stood with their arms wrapped around each other, kissing lovingly.

Daryl asked if Gareth would like for him to return the favour, but the hairdresser shook his head.

"Nope, just wanted to do this since the first time I cut your hair," he murmured, a blissed out expression on his face. After a moment though, he added "I'd like to jerk off while sitting in your lap though, if you don't mind..?"

Wondering why Gareth appeared to be so flustered all out of a sudden, Daryl nodded, and they went over to sit on the sofa.

As soon as Daryl had pulled Gareth into his lap, he kissed him long and passionately, but when they finally broke apart again, Daryl noticed how Gareth still looked just as flustered. "Gareth," he asked him curiously, "Why're you all bashful like that?"

Gareth averted his eyes and mumbled something under his breath that Daryl was not able to catch. When he asked him to repeat it, Gareth said a little louder, still averting his eyes "It's just that I have this kink, you know..."

Loosing his patience abruptly, Daryl demanded "Come on Gareth, out with it! I mean," he added thoughtfully, "it's not like we haven't done some pretty weird shit already, right?"

Nodding, Gareth took a deep breath and admitted "I want to call you daddy, if that's ok with you..?"

Daryl was speechless for a moment, and Gareth began to fidget in his lap. After a long minute, Daryl caressed Gareth's blushed cheeks with his fingertips and said "I don't see how I could say no to that if it brings such a cute blush to my boy's face."

Squealing in delight, Gareth hugged him impulsively, and Daryl smiled as he hugged him right back. They sat like this for a long minute, when Daryl's smile slowly turned into a wicked grin, an idea forming in his mind, and he whispered into Gareth's ear. "So," he said in a barely audible, low tone, "how about turning around for your daddy now, huh..?"

Gareth turned his head to look at Daryl, not sure if he had heard correctly. But before he could say anything, Daryl continued.

"You heard me, boy, turn around and lie down across my legs, that cute ass of yours in the air, right now." He gave Gareth a stern look, and the hairdresser obliged, balancing himself over Daryl's legs, popping his ass up in the air. While he was still trying to get into the most comfortable position, seeing as his dick had gotten harder, Daryl had already raised his hand and brought it down with a resounding smack, leaving a nice, reddening print on Gareth's butt.

A startled sound left the hairdresser's mouth, and he started to plead with Daryl, telling him to please be gentle with him, but Daryl only stated "You deserve to be punished for being such a naughty boy, and you will take what I hand out without complaining, understand?"

Gareth nodded meekly, and Daryl rained a series of blows down on Gareth's ass, while the hairdresser's moans constantly increased.

Suddenly stopping, Daryl told Gareth to open his eyes, then said "Listen now, boy, I can feel how your punishment has gotten you all hard again. Don't think you can fool me!"

"No daddy," Gareth whined, "I'd never try to fool you!"

When Daryl opened his mouth to answer, Gareth continued, trying to save himself. "I swear! It's just, you are so good, daddy, and I, I..." He cast his eyes down, then felt his head being pulled up as Daryl had grabbed his hair.

"Get up, boy," he ordered, and Gareth obliged. Daryl continued "Now, look what you've done here!" With that, he pushed at the back of Gareth's head, forcing him to look at Daryl's crotch. Gareth's eyes grew wide, as Daryl said "Looks like you've gotten your daddy hard again as well, so I guess you know what that means, don't you, boy..?" And with a look that told Gareth 'you better!', Daryl pushed again as his legs parted to position Gareth on the floor between Daryl's knees.

Eagerly, Gareth grabbed Daryl's briefs to pull them down so he could reach the bartender's rock-hard length, and he swallowed it down with hollowed out cheeks, causing Daryl to groan. "That's it," he moaned, "that's my boy, make it tight for your daddy, come on!"

Gareth's attempt at trying to sneak a hand down his own body to start working on his erection was cut short. Daryl grabbed his wrist with a sudden move, held on with some force behind it to make Gareth wince from the pain, then said "Now we can't have that, can we?" He shook his head in disappointment. "Give me your other hand as well," he added, and Gareth obliged, looking ashamed.

"You will push your hands under my legs now, and not use them until I say so. Got it?" Nodding, Gareth did as he was told, then bowed down to continue his work on Daryl's cock, hightening his efforts once more to make up for his misbehaviour.

Soon, Daryl moaned constantly, praising Gareth under his breath, until he felt he was on the brink of orgasm. He grabbed Gareth's hair again, holding him in place, as he groaned "I'm shooting my load now, and you will swallow it all, you hear me, boy?"

Gareth nodded enthusiastically, which resulted in a bobbing motion that turned out to be the last move on Daryl's way to cum for the second time, and he moaned loudly as his cum shot down Gareth's eagerly swallowing throat, milking him off to the last drop. Utterly spent, Daryl sank against the backrest of the sofa, panting heavily.

When he felt like he could talk again, he said "That was real good, I think you earned yourself to come for your daddy. Come on," he coaxed, "hop back on daddy's lap."

Gareth, his cheeks all flamed up again, complied eagerly, and Daryl leaned towards his ear to whisper "Good boy, daddy is very proud of you," before he bit Gareth's ear lightly while his hands moved to grab Gareth's ass-cheeks, causing him to groan from a mixture of pleasure and pain.

"That's right," Daryl crooned, "my boy got a spanking, didn't he..?" He leaned back to wink at Gareth, then he added "Why don't you show your daddy how hard you've gotten, hm?"

Moving his hands towards his tiny pair of panties, Gareth moaned and touched his leaking cock through the fine material. "Here daddy," he whispered, eyes cast down again, "look. I got all excited from your hand!"

Daryl pretended to inspect Gareth's dick very closely, while his hands never left the hairdresser's ass. "Uh-hu," he murmured, "that's a nice hard-on you got there, boy. Why don't you rub it for me, hm? Let me see how you make yourself feel good?"

As Gareth started to slowly rub his cock through his panties, his eyes were closed in pleasure, and he got startled when he felt Daryl's fingers at his mouth. "Open that gorgeous mouth of yours, boy," Daryl told him, "let me see how good you are with those lips. Make my fingers real wet, come on now..." He pushed a bit for good measure, driving his point as well as his fingers home, and Gareth groaned, sucking on Daryl's digits as if his life depended on it.

Soon enough, he felt how Daryl withdrew them again, and he made a disappointed sound, pulling his mouth into a pout.

Daryl moaned under his breath. "You're so cute, my boy, pouting like this," he whispered, cleverly distracting Gareth from the fact that his other hand pulled Gareth's panties aside so the wet fingers could reach for Gareth's still loosened hole while the other hand kneaded his ass-cheek again.

Gareth's moves on his own cock stuttered for a moment as he moaned loudly before he began to beg. "Please daddy, I need it so bad, please..?" He looked at Daryl with his eyes all big, and Daryl grinned.

"You need what, huh, boy?" A devilish grin on his face, Daryl teased "Tell your daddy what you need, and I might give it to you..."

Groaning, Gareth pushed his butt back on Daryl's hands, begging "Need your fingers in my ass, please, daddy, I need to cum so bad..."

"Well," Daryl said nonchalantly, "since you asked so nicely..." He pushed a finger inside, making Gareth groan, and when Daryl realised how loose Gareth's hole still was, he pushed another finger inside, immediately starting up a push and pull motion at a relentless pace. Gareth rocked himself back and forth, desperately trying for all the friction he could get, while his clever hand worked on his cock.

He held on to Daryl's shoulder with his other hand, his moans only cut off by small cries of pain, caused by Daryl's continuing assault on his reddened ass-cheeks.

Daryl leaned forward so he could whisper into Gareth's ear "Your cock looks gorgeous like this, boy. All red and leaking, you are so horny, aren't you..?" When Gareth whimpered, Daryl continued to tease him. "Come on, boy, just a little bit harder now, you have to rub the head of your cock some more..."

Gareth cried out, and Daryl grinned before he whispered "Cum for me, Gareth. Cum for your daddy." A desperate moan escaped Gareth's lucious lips when his orgasm began to explode out of him, and Daryl wickedly added "That's it, cum on, shoot it all over yourself, you dirty little boy!"

With one last cry, Gareth fell against Daryl, utterly spent, and Daryl wrapped him up in his strong arms, holding him as he tried to catch his breath and slowly came down from his high.

* * *

Later, after they had both taken another quick shower each, Daryl checked his cell phone as they sat at the kitchen table, talking about the next cruise and discussing wether they would see each other again before the ship left shore or not.

"Oh," Daryl said, "my brother called a few times. Let me call him back real quick to ask what he wanted, ok?"

After Gareth had nodded, Daryl stepped into the living room to call Merle, who picked up after the second ring.

"Did you drop off the edge of the world, little brother?" Merle's voice rasped over the line, and Daryl shook his head.

"You do realise that I am at Gareth's, right, Merle?" Daryl asked, and he rolled his eyes when Merle's reply came over the line.

"I'm just funnin' ya, Daryl, a'ight? No need to get those panties in a twist now." Merle answered, and Daryl felt the blush creeping up his cheeks, involuntarily thinking back to his and Gareth's latest encounter on the hairdresser's sofa in that very room.

Swallowing hard, Daryl asked "Why did you call?"

"Just making sure that you are alright, Daryl, since you said you'd be back by now when you took off yesterday."

Daryl looked at the time and gasped.

"Yep," Merle said at the other end of the line, "it's that late already." Cackling, he added "Seriously, Daryl, are you staying another night, or will you be back soon?"

"I, well, we, totally forgot the time, Merle," Daryl answered, "but I'll drive home soon, and then I'll take you out to dinner, how's that sound?"

They briefly talked about where to head out for dinner, then hung up, and Daryl went back into the kitchen to tell Gareth about his further plans. They agreed on not meeting again before the cruise started, since Gareth had hardly met his friends and family since he got back, before Daryl grabbed his stuff and was ready to leave.

They hugged each other long and hard, and their parting kiss lasted for minutes, but eventually, Daryl left the apartment and it's hot inhabitant behind to drive back home. He had his mind made up – he would use dinner as an opportunity to ask Merle about the guy whose sight alone had scared his love into having nightmares.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you think, since this was my first time daddy kink, ever! I don't even know how it happened, suddenly, Gareth was asking Daryl, and it kinda went from there...


	8. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daryl takes his brother out to dinner, and they have some talking to do.

Merle Dixon was usually more of a dispassionate guy, who rarely let his emotions show. But when his younger brother burst through the door, dragging his bag behind himself with his eyes all aglow, Merle could not help it but smile at him.

"Hey there, little brother," he called out from his spot on the sofa, "looks like you had yourself a great night, huh..?" Winking at Daryl lewdly, he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively for good measure as well, and Daryl rolled his eyes.

"Drop it, Merle," he said, as he walked through the room. He went to put his bag away accompanied by the sounds of Merle Dixon's signature cackle of a laugh, and shook his head to himself foundly.

Back in the living room a few minutes later, Daryl boxed Merle into the side none too gently.

"Get up, dear ole brother, let's get movin'." He grinned when Merle winced before he got up, and soon both Dixons were on their way to the restaurant they had picked out earlier.

During their dinner, Daryl had to endure a lot more teasing from his brother, and he took it all in stride – up until a certain point where he decided to turn the tables. As soon as he asked Merle about Karen, his brother got all flustered, searching for words.

"Aha!" Daryl shouted triumphantly, "Gotcha! You got it bad for the girl, huh?"

Merle cast his eyes down, mumbling under his breath, and Daryl called him out on it, asking to repeat what he said.

"Alright, alright, I'll admit it!" The older Dixon declared, grumbling. "Yes, I do like her a lot, ok? Geez, Daryl..." Merle shook his head, still looking embarrassed, and Daryl took pity on him.

"So," he asked, "what are your plans then? Inviting the lady for dinner?"

"Daryl..." Merle pleaded, and his brother held both hands up in a soothing manner.

"I meant it, Merle," he said. "Honestly just enquiring." Daryl waited, but when Merle did not add anything, he got suspicious. "Merle?" He asked quietly. "Did you even call her after she left that morning?"

Merle blushed an uncharacteristic shade of red, and Daryl shook his head before he put it in his hands. Looking back up, he asked incredulously "But however will you try and convince her that you're the man she's been waiting for?"

"I'm not, Daryl, alright?" Merle snapped. "You know, that's just it! How can she even look at me twice?"

Confounded, Daryl stared at his brother across the table top. After quite some time had passed, he said "You know, when I came home and met her, she seemed pretty taken with you to me."

Merle, in the middle of refusing Daryl's observations point blank, got cut off in his ramblings. "Shut the fuck up, Merle," Daryl almost whispered, before he raised his voice to it's usual volume again.

"Geez. Will you cut it out? I mean, come on! Where did my 'I can have any woman, just watch me'-brother go, huh? Now that there's finally one that you really like, and she even likes you right back, you're chickening out? You gotta be kiddin' me!"

"Did you just call me chicken?!" Merle asked, dumbfounded, but Daryl just nodded.

"Damn straight I did call you chicken, if that's what it takes for you to do the right thing and go after the woman, even if it is just to proof me wrong here!" Daryl leant back in his seat, crossing his arms over his broad chest, as if to challenge Merle to talk back, but the older Dixon seemed to have had enough.

Taking that as his clue, Daryl said "You know, I would actually like to talk something over with you, concerning that shady character, Philip Blake?"

Merle's head shot up. "How in the heck did you stumble over that name?"

Daryl explained his experience while he was out to grab dinner with Gareth, and what the hairdresser had told him afterwards. He even added the fact that Gareth appeared to have had a nightmare, following the events, and Merle nodded, which confused Daryl.

"What," he asked, "no side jab about my, um, boyfriend, having an un-manly nightmare..?"

Merle chuckled, but got serious again right afterwards. "Daryl, that Blake guy – or, as he calls himself, the Govenor," here, Merle made sure to spit out that nickname rather than just to mention it, before he continued in a normal voice, "he's really bad news. Word on the street is, once you got involved with him, he will go after you and not give up until you paid what he thinks is due."

Daryl blanched, and Merle nodded darkly. "Exactly," he added, "and if Gareth got involved with him, there's no tellin' how that will end." Pausing for a moment, Merle looked off into the middle distance before he asked Daryl a question. "Do you think it's possible that Gareth only went on those cruises to escape that?"

While Daryl still thought that over, Merle continued "After all, you told me what a posh salon his cousin owns, so you'd think that he would most likely work there, right?"

Thinking how his older brother had proven yet again that he was way more shrewd than anyone gave him credit for, Daryl nodded slowly before he said "Yeah, when I saw the place, I thought about how he might want to settle down eventually, you know?"

"Did you ask him about it?" Merle said, but when he saw Daryl's face, he added with a sly grin "No, of course you did not. So which one of us is the chicken now, huh?" He laughed good-naturedly.

They went on to talk about other things for a while before Daryl eventually paid their bill and the brothers got into the truck to drive back home. During the drive, Daryl told Merle how he and Gareth had agreed on meeting again when the ship would leave port, so that they both could spend some more time with friends and family and get all their laundry done and such.

Merle nodded in understanding, and the brothers talked about that for a minute. Arriving at their house, they tackled some of that laundry before they grabbed beers and got in front of the tv. Daryl asked if Shane had talked to Merle, and his brother explained the plan he and the cop had come up with to get Shane's move done without any hassle.

"That guy," Merle laughed, "honestly." He shook his head. "But then again, who would've guessed that I would end up helping a cop out, right? And all because he was my little brother's first cruise squeeze!"

Merle Dixon broke out in laughter, and Daryl sat next to him, blushing, unable to stop his brother's merry outburst.

When Merle finally managed to reign himself back in, he got very serious as he turned around to look Daryl in the eye. "Listen to me, Daryl, about that so called Govenor, you need to warn Gareth, you hear?"

"I'm pretty sure that he's aware of the danger..." Daryl began, but Merle cut right in.

"No," he said, a final ring to his tone, "he most certainly does not know what danger he is in. Nobody does. Heck," he continued, shaking his head, "nobody ever did – until it was too late."

"Whaddaya mean?" Daryl asked, alarmed.

"I mean, that people who dared to cross that Blake guy happened to, shall we say, suddenly move? Never to return – or be heard from, ever again?"

The silence between them dragged on for a long time, with Merle not adding anything to try and drive his point home further, while Daryl was just too shocked to say anything.

Eventually, Daryl whispered pleadingly "Whatever the hell am I supposed to do now..?" Falling back against the sofa, he closed his eyes, willing the tears that threatened to form there away.

Merle said darkly "That's just the thing. You see, with that guy, there isn't anything that can be done. Heck, he only got off my back because I didn't rat him out, back then, when I was on trial."

They sat together for the remainder part of the night, the tv long forgotten, playing in front of them with the tone turned very low, before they decided to call it quits and just go to bed.

The next day would be filled with running errands, so that everything was ready when Daryl would go on his final cruise – alongside Gareth, whose past now appeared to be even more colourful than the man himself in all his flamboyance, while his future had suddenly cast over with dark clouds in Daryl's mind.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! Now that this episode of the Cruisin' series is finally done, there is only one left. So next up will be the last cruise for Daryl before he goes back to being a mechanic, but first, he will meet some interesting men again, not to mention try and save his love from a dark fate, so stay tuned!

**Author's Note:**

> *father figure  
> It appears that the George Michael song titles stuck, even though that episode is finished! :)


End file.
